Former SNLer Misses the Mark in Anti-Gun Ad

Who doesn’t love a good dose of Debbie Downer? So when I saw that Rachel Dratch made an anti-gun commercial I gave it a watch. Not only was it not funny, it was stupid (to borrow a phrase from DT) and misleading. The premise of the ad is that Rachel, a mom, is doing everything she can to keep her kids safe. But when she goes out to eat, the restaurant is loaded (get it) with white men with all kinds of weapons, from shot guns to assault rifles. And this scares her kids. One guy, who we are to assume is drunk, even clumsily knocks over his loaded shot gun—at a pizza joint.

1. I have never been in a restaurant that even closely resembled that scene. Gun-owners tend to be highly responsible when it comes gun safety. I have never seen even one shotgun in a restaurant in my life.

2. When kids in Israel (where I live now) see a hand gun on someone’s waist in a restaurant they feel safer. They know that that person is trained and willing to risk their life to protect others from terrorists.

3. In my congregation, knowing that we have enemies who may seek to harm us, it makes me feel more secure knowing that one of our pastors has a handgun as well as the guard at the door.

The problem with guns in America is not legal gun owners, but criminals. However Dratch’s pitch for “Mom’s Demand Action for Gun Sense in America” misses the mark badly as it takes aim at responsible gun owners and is silent on drug violence, inner city shootings and mental health issues. You can’t tackle the real problem because it is politically incorrect—so let’s aggressively attack a fake one.